Warner says Bots made the Snyder Cut Possible

Despite the fact that the fan campaign to press Warner Bros. for the release of the “Snyder Cut” – the version of the DC Films movie Justice League that director Zach Snyder created – seemed to be a success story that showed fans coming out on top against studio might, to the casual observer.

It is interesting to note, however, that new reports from Warner Media appear to be challenging that assertion.

According to two documents analyzed by Rolling Stone, the number of fake accounts that participated in the conversations surrounding the Snyder Cut – such as the famous #ReleaseTheSnyderCut hashtag – comprised 13% of those participating in those conversations. It is estimated that Twitter has around 5 percent of its users that are bots, so if that’s the case, it would mean that the Snyder Cut movement had a median of around two to three times as many fake accounts as is typically expected. Some researchers have also questioned Twitter’s numbers, with some estimating bots make up between nine and 15 percent of Twitter’s users.

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It is important to note that there are certain patterns that bots give off that we were able to see here.

Aside from reviewing the Warner Media reports — which were reportedly commissioned as a result of toxic fan behaviour — Rolling Stone also contracted three cybersecurity companies to analyze the fan campaign for bot activity, in addition to reviewing the Warner Media reports.

According to Becky Wanta, Q5id’s chief information officer and chief technology officer, there are certain patterns that bots give off that we saw here, the publisher reported. It has been observed that most of these messages arrive almost simultaneously, in huge numbers. And many times, the origin of thousands or even millions of them can be traced to a single or a few sources, as well as servers in remote countries. And their contents will be almost identical.”

After years of pressure from fans, Zach Snyder’s Justice League became a reality in 2021 with the release of the movie. Following the death of Snyder’s daughter, Autumn, in 2017, he made the decision to pull out of the project part way through the filming process, and he was replaced by Whedon as the director of the movie.

 

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